"I knew there was something fishy about that girl,” Mavis said.
"Unfortunately, nothing I found tells us who did the set-up,” Lauren said.
"Thank you for looking,” Mavis said.
Aunt Beth arrived carrying a basket of chips and a dish of salsa Jorge had handed her as she passed the kitchen door.
"Jorge said this would help us think,” she said, and set the treats on the table. “Is anyone else coming?” she asked Mavis.
"Sarah couldn't get off work, and Carla was looking for a babysitter. If she's not here by now, she must not have been successful,” Mavis replied.
"So, what are we here for?” Robin asked.
Aunt Beth sat beside Mavis, and Harriet stood up and moved to the end of the table.
"I feel like we're getting close to figuring out what happened, but a few pieces of the puzzle are missing. First, I'd hoped we could list everything we know and see if anyone can see a pattern. Second, I'd like to make sure we get all the information we can at the funeral."
Robin pulled out the yellow tablet she always kept in her shoulder bag. Once again, she listed Gerry's postcard, Mavis's sudden babysitting job in Portland, Gerald's reappearance, Gerald's second family, Terry's appearance in town, his night-time absences, his surveillance of Foggy Point Fire Protection, the night work and now Terry's disappearance. She put them in neat columns-Gerald/Gerard information in one, Terry information in another.
Harriet had her add the information about the layoffs at the time of Gerard's disappearance, the contradiction in Terry's report of his military service, and the magic bullet.
"Ideas anyone?” she asked.
"What they're doing at night at Foggy Point Fire Protection is why Gerald came back,” DeAnn suggested.
"But why did he leave in the first place?” Lauren asked.
"Wait.” Harriet reached into a canvas bag bearing the Quilt As Desired logo and pulled out Gerald's plaid flannel quilt and the black mystery material. “Exhibit one,” she said, and placed the two items on the table. “Mavis found this quilt in her sewing room just before the re-enactment. It appeared out of nowhere after twenty years. It was Gerald's."
"So, obviously Gerald put it there,” Lauren said.
"But why?” Robin wondered.
"Let me see that,” DeAnn said. She bent the square, corner to corner, tugged at the edges and then smelled it. “Does anyone have a scissor?"
Several people rummaged in their purses. Connie won, triumphantly holding a pair of Gingher shears up.
"I was going to drop these off at Pins and Needles to go to the sharpener."
"Is it okay if I cut the mystery square with them?” DeAnn asked.
Connie agreed, and DeAnn began a series of attempts to cut the fabric. She tried snipping with the scissor tips. She pulled the piece deep into the blades. She laid the fabric on the table and stabbed at it with the scissors held in her fist.
"Anyone else want to try?” she asked.
Lauren held her hands out for the piece. DeAnn passed it to her, and Lauren repeated the experiment.
"So, this is some sort of thin, protective material?” she said when she'd run out of methods to try.
"That's weird,” Harriet said. She glanced at Mavis and Aunt Beth.
"We all three saw Mavis's appliqué scissors poke a hole in that square,” Beth said.
"So, how did you do it?” Robin asked.
"I was holding it while Mavis held a match to it,” Harriet explained. “She got the flame close to my hand and I dropped the square, bumped my teacup and knocked the scissors off the table. The tea slopped onto the square and the scissors fell point down into and through the material. The square didn't protect my hand from the heat, by the way."
"Hand me the tea,” Lauren said.
DeAnn was closest to the small table and passed it to her down the table, where Robin handed it to Lauren. Lauren laid down her napkin, put the black square on it and poured iced tea onto its surface. She took Connie's scissors into her fist, raised her arm and stabbed down into the material. The scissors slid sideways and skittered off the black square and into the scarred top of the picnic table.
She looked at Harriet. “So tell us again how you poked a hole in this thing."
"Don't look at me. Feel the center, my hole is still there,” Harriet said.
Lauren tried her experiment again with similar results. “So, what gives?"
"It was hot tea,” said the disembodied voice of Jorge over the intercom speaker. Moments later he appeared in the back room with a steaming water kettle. “Try this.” He laid a thick cotton dishtowel on the table. Lauren reached up for the pot, and he pulled it away. “Hey, it was my idea. At least let me pour."
"Knock yourself out,” Lauren said, and put the square on top of the towel.
Jorge carefully poured steaming water onto the material.
"Okay, hit it,” he said, and Lauren stabbed down with the scissors. This time they went through the black square like it was made from butter, embedding the points of the blades in the towel.
"Remind me what this proves, Sherlock,” she said.
"It doesn't prove anything,” Harriet said. “It gives us more information."
Mavis made a fist and gently pounded it against her forehead.
"I wish I could remember,” she said. “Gerald talked about his work a lot, but I'm afraid I was distracted with the boys and trying to get them all pointed to college. He was just perfecting the fire protection cloth, but beyond that, I'm not sure. They were doing something with shoe tops."
"Maybe they were trying to make safety shoes,” DeAnn said. “You know, like steel-toed boots only lighter weight."
"That could be a real good deal for people who work in kitchens,” Jorge said. The women had forgotten he was still in the room. “You know, in some big kitchens they require steel-toed shoes because of the knives, but those boots were heavy and back then, boots were the only option. A lightweight protective shoe would have been a big deal in the restaurant trades."
"I guess the boiling water thing would be a problem,” Connie mused.
"Too bad there's no evidence,” Robin said. “Without a prototype or a drawing or a formula linking Gerry's chemical to this material, it's only speculation. I'd be willing to bet Gerald and Carlton 's dad made dozens of test fabrics back in the early days. They probably had more than a few chemicals in common, too. I'm sorry, but we need hard evidence."
"At the very least, it would be helpful to know why, out of all the test samples the company made, Gerald as Gerard kept this particular one with him for all these years,” Harriet suggested.
Jenny looked at her watch. “I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to leave in a little while. Could we move on to the funeral?"
"Sure,” Harriet said. “I'm thinking we have several people we need to watch tomorrow. Ilsa and the cousins, Carlton and anyone who shows up from Foggy Point Fire Protection and Terry, if he shows up. In addition, I want to talk to the father of Harry's friend, and, Mavis, I know this is hard, but I'd like Connie to take a crack at your son Pete.” She held her hand up to silence the protest Mavis was about to make. “We need to know why Pete called you to Portland during the re-enactment. I think Connie might be able to get it out of him. Aunt Beth, I thought you could help Connie ratchet up the pressure if needed."
"What do you want me to do?” Jenny asked.
"I penciled you in for keeping an eye on the Dutch people. And DeAnn and Robin, I thought you could cover the Foggy Point Fire Protection group. With two of you, if Carlton splits off to talk to non-company people, one can follow him and the other stay with the employees. Keep track of anyone out of the ordinary who speaks to him."